[royalcello]

Perhaps there would be more support from the wealthy if taxes were cut, but I get angry when Republicans focus on eliminating arts funding while basically leaving the rest of the Big Government apparatus intact. And government support of the arts is a long-established tradition in Western Civilization which has nothing to do with liberalism. I'm not thrilled with a lot of the choices the NEA has made either, but I'm not willing to take a chance on speculation that the free market and private donations will provide.

Back to the other topic, while the U.S. may have been founded as a constitutional republic, today for all practical purposes it is a democracy, if only because most Americans see it that way. American paleoconservatives have argued convincingly that the original republic of the Founders ended in 1861.